But this year, beautiful models in barely there bikinis are in the middle of a controversy brewing over some photos and video the magazine posted online that did not make it into the magazine - particularly photos taken in Africa and China.

"For me, the African picture was probably the most offensive because it played on some of the most old and stereotypical images, it showed the African as primitive as almost uncivilized," said Marc Lamont Hill, a professor at Columbia University.